


Grateful for the Years to Come

by Ms_Marchy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Lance's Mother, Lance's family - Freeform, Langst, Mentions of PTSD, Mentions of major injury, Scars, not cannon compliant, reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 09:55:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ms_Marchy/pseuds/Ms_Marchy
Summary: Five years after saying goodbye to her son, Maria McClain gets the greatest gift of being reunited with her son. Everyone knows Lance worries over how much he missed in his family's lives. No one ever thinks about what Maria was missing about her son's life. She didn't even know herself until one day two giant mechanical lions land near her house.The Space War is finally over. Everyone can go home.





	Grateful for the Years to Come

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of working on "Shades of Blue" I wrote this instead so I could still feel like I was getting something done while simultaneously procrastinating in my writing.

The first thing Maria McClain noticed about her son, upon returning to Earth after five years missing, was how much he had grown. His face alone, the only thing she could really see of her boy with the helmet he wore obstructing her view- but she knew. This was Lance. This was the boy that she had birthed, that she had carried, that she had held close to, that she had worried for, that she had mourned over. His cheekbones were higher, more defined in the years after puberty. His chin strong, his hair a few inches longer than when she had last seen him. He was taller, too, his shoulders broad and his body built with muscle she never thought her Lance would have.

The second thing Maria noticed was the missing spark. Her young Lance, whom constantly smiled, whom constantly lit up the room with his presence- loud and boisterous, distinctive in a crowd- was missing his spark. His eyes crinkled in the corner with his nervous smile as he walked from the giant metal lion that had landed in their back yard, but his teeth were missing from that smile, the light in his eyes gone. His shoulders were straight in determination, as though he were willingly sacrificing himself for the greater good. 

" _Mamá_ ," he whispered when he was within arms reach, arms already reaching towards the woman who gave him life. His voice croaked, deep and yet still so much like the child she had yearned for in his absence. She latched on to him, taking in his scent as though that would determine whether he were real or not. This was the third thing she noticed. He smelled different. No longer like the sea breeze or home spices. He smelled of something she could not label. Stale was the best she could come up with. But she did not let this deter her from embracing the piece of her that had been missing from her family's lives. She patted his back, reached up to brush her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, she held him close as his shoulders began to shake and a warmth began to cover her shoulder.

"Mijo," she cooed. "Mijo, where have you been? We thought-" and she didn't want to finish the sentence. If she did, she might realize this was a dream, because this is what it had to be. Her boy had disappeared off the face of the Earth- literally, apparently. How could it be possible that he could return? 

"Mamá," was all he could reply with, his arms around her holding her tighter.

 

There were many smaller things that she noticed about her long lost son. The way his eyes misted when his siblings came out the door, the ones old enough to truly miss him running and screaming his name, arms already splayed out for hugs. The younger ones followed the older siblings, only not so excitedly. They were happy to see their siblings happy, something they had probably never truly seen. Lance fell to his knees as they crowded around him, sobs coming from the group and it made Maria heart's break. Her babies were finally together again.

She saw how Lance kept an eye on the boy in red that had followed her son from his own lion. She saw how Lance grabbed his hand, pulling him everywhere like a toddler pulling a toy on a string, talking a mile a minute as he introduced the family. She watched Lance's shoulders hunch minutely, his eyes widen as his siblings introduced the little ones to him. They know what he looks like, who he's supposed to be. But they're still tentative about the estranged brother who kept the family around them blanketed in an invisible shadow.

She also noticed how close Lance stayed to the boy in red. 'Keith,' was his name. She watched Keith steal little smiles towards her son, the way they would dance around each other yet still be attached to the hip.

"Are you not going to see your familia?" Maria had asked the dark-haired boy, upon hearing that Hunk and the rest of their team were visiting their own families.

Keith cleared his throat as Lance snuck an arm around the other boy's armour, "I-uh.. I don't have one." He had explained. "Our leader, Shiro, was the closest thing I had to family here," and he spoke of Earth as though it were just a place, and not his home. Lance would later explain, when surrounded by his siblings, that Keith was half-alien. Keith would grumble something and her boy would just smile at him in response. She wondered if they were an item. Neither came out to say, nor did they stow away in a corner or excuse themselves to embrace in private. Maybe they didn't label it, two kids in a war, what was attachment? The stakes were too high to label anything, but now maybe, hopefully they would be able to be together, if they chose.

 

"Lance, we must go swimming," Emilio shouted, one of the younger siblings that could remember Lance the best out of the siblings that weren't quite old enough to remember Lance. "I gotta show you my board skills!"

"What, _you_? Having skills?" He mussed his sibling's hair and Emilio only laughed. "Sure thing buddy." Then he looked to Keith. "Ready to go swimming?"

"It'll be nice," Keith smiled. "Anything compared to the Altean pool."

"Race ya!" Lance yelled, grabbing Keith's wrist and dashing to the shore 100 feet away. The siblings squealed and ran as well, stripping to their undergarments.

The third thing that she noticed- and probably the one thing that made her heart hurt the most- were the scars. Lance threw his armour and underarmour off like it was nothing, as though what lay beneath was just a part of him. He was covered head to toe. They could see the ones on his face from the beginning, nothing too concerning. Small scars on his lip, nose, cheek, and eyebrow. Nothing they hadn't seen on others before. But the rest of his body- it made all the siblings stop when he wasn't looking to look at Maria. His back had the largest scar, one jagged and unpleasant. His arms were littered more than they remembered, but at least they didn't look self-inflicted. His calves were littered as well, a couple of scars that indented in his skin, as though he were shot with a bullet. The one across his diaphragm made Maria's blood run cold. It was deep and still pink in color. One that bore the signs of 'Life Threatening'. To think of Lance actually dying. Her, a mother who had thrown a funeral with an empty casket, mourned and did her best to move on, terrified of the same boy she had accepted would never come back, dying.

"Mamá," Adriana whispered, fear in her voice. "Did you see?" They stared at the young boy, at his back that was dripping in water as he splashed around, throwing his siblings into the water and allowing them to jump off his shoulders.

"The scar there doesn't seem to bother him at all."

When asked by the littlest sibling, Lance smiled worriedly, looking at his mother like he knew he was about to be scolded. She thinks he saw how worried she looked in returned, and in a blink of an eye he perched the youngest on his hip. "I got blown up!" He yelled, a smile still on his face like it was the best experience of his life. The older siblings stop moving, Maria leaned forward from where she sat in the sand.

"What?" the youngest asked. "Blowed up?"

Lance nodded. "Just before the bomb went off I jumped in front of the blast to protect Coran. He's like our Space Uncle. You'll all meet him later. He and Princess Allura will be visiting. They're with Shiro right now."

"Princess?" The second youngest asked, her eyes big. Lance nodded. "Is she a beautiful Princess?"

Lance and Keith laughed. "The most beautiful princess you'll ever see. Even with her funny ears."

"Funny ears!?"

"She has elvish ears!" he laughed. "Like Legolas!"

All the siblings younger than him laughed, as though he were just kidding around. Maria knew Lance wasn't lying. She knew her son. He wasn't the same boy that had disappeared five years ago. He had grown and bled into the man he was now. 

"You should be proud of Lance," Keith says softly when it was just him and her in the kitchen; the first time he's spoken unprompted to anyone that wasn't Lance.

"I'm just happy he's home with us now." She smiled at the young man but he looked troubled with the response. 

"With all due respect, Mrs. McClain, don't brush off what he's been through." Keith says, looking like he's doing his damned best not to snap. "I know it doesn't seem like much, nothing has changed for you, but we saved this planet from being enslaved, if not completely obliterated by a being that had so much power that even Voltron- the most powerful weapon of the universe- had a hard time defeating him. We've saved hundreds of other planets and their inhabitants; rescued dozens and dozens of prisoners that would either be tortured for information or- like Shiro- would be forced to fight for their lives against other prisoners. Lance has almost died far too many times for you to 'just be happy' you have him near you again. He bled out in my arms once, back broken and crying, apologizing that he left you without being able to say goodbye. You need to be more than 'happy', you need to be _grateful_ of Lance. You owe him for your freedom."

Maria just stood shocked at the young man, scolding her in a way she knew he wasn't angry at her, just frustrated. She swallowed her pride, realizing that this boy was only protecting Lance.

"Yes," she said in an apology. "I suppose I will be grateful then." Keith looked like he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. "You said you don't have anyone to go home to," she mentioned. Keith looked away. 

"My father disappeared when I was young. My mother-" his shoulders dropped. "Well, I guess she's probably on her home planet."

"Where will you go, then?"

Keith bit the inside of his cheek. "I was planning on leaving with Coran and Allura, and seeing if I can find my mother."

"And leave Lance behind?"

"He's more than welcomed to come with me," Keith answered. "But I understand that this is where he wants to be. I wont get in the way of that."

"Well," Maria offered, "You're always welcome to stay with us." 

It was Keith's turn to stand mouth open in shock.

"Uh-oh," Lance's voice came from around the corner, striding in. His arms were on display, the scars that littered them allowed to see the daylight. "Looks like Keith.exe is not responding." He threw an arm around Keith, Keith crossed his arms as he focused instead on Lance using him as a leaning post. 

"Like mother like son," Keith garbled.

Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed an apple. "Look Keith, fruit!" And took a deep bite, moaning and letting his eyes roll into the back of skull as he savored the flavor. Keith grumbled and snatched the apple from him, taking a large bite as well.

"S'Pretty good," Keith said. He stepped out of Lance's reach and walked to the other side of the kitchen, apple still in hand.

"So Lance," Maria sighed in content, glad she can strike up a conversation with her missing son. "What was space like?"

Something flashed in Lance's eyes. Almost missed by her. Then he raised the corner of his mouth and let his eyes soften. "So many space ladies." He lulled.

"Lance got Space Aids." Keith blurted.

"Hey!" Lance yelled. "Don't tell mi _Madre_ that I was having sex!"

"Lance, you're twenty two. It's okay to talk about the birds and the bees. You never shut up about it Up There." Keith pointed his thumb up towards the ceiling.

"Yeah because Alteans are very open about their sex lives. Damn!"

Maria's eyes misted over. She can't even tell her boy to watch his mouth the way that she used to be able to. Her sweet 15 year old is all grown up, and she missed all those years where he was going to discover himself.

"Mamá?" Lance called tentatively, his voice soft. "Mamá, que es problema?"

"Todavía eres tan fluido en español," She sniffled. 

Lance stepped closer to her. "Por supuesto, Mamá," he gave a nervous huff of laughter, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

She quickly snatched him up in her arms. "Te amo, mijo."

"Yo también te amo, Mamá," Lance's voice cracked. Keith never saw Lance look so guilty as his mother sobbed into his shoulder, continuously telling him things that Keith couldn't translate.

 

Three days later, after spending nights of everyone in the living room, not wanting to be far from Lance in fear that he may disappear once more, the others arrived. Blue and Red alerted Lance and Keith, excited to see their fellow lions. Lance bolted from the heap of siblings around him and ran to the room Keith stayed in, who was already awake and getting clothes on.

The other siblings woke to the commotion. "Get up!" Lance yelled, smile plastered on his face. "The others are here!"

 

Maria gave Hunk a hug as soon as she realized he was the grown man in yellow. "Oh my," She gasped. "Look at you, Hunk. You're so handsome!"

"Maaaaa!" Lance drawled. "Hunk has _always_ been handsome!"

Hunk laughed and Maria rolled her eyes. "Of course Hunk has always been handsome. He's just grown into his body! Look at him!"

"Thank you Maria," Hunk smiled, still keeping his arm around her shoulders.

"How is Leilani, dear? I haven't seen her in quite some time?"

"Mom's good," Hunk answered. "She had another baby." He smiled softly. "Her name is Nakine. She's adorable."

"Hunk that's awesome!" Lance laughed. "You're gonna make a great big brother!"

"Yeah," Hunk smiled. He obviously had his doubts, but he seemed to want to keep them to himself for the moment.

 

"Oh goodness, you two must be the Holt children," Maria smiled as Pidge and Matt walked forward, side by side as they had been since they found each other in space.

"Why yes!" Matt bowed. "And you must be Lance's beautiful mother!" He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "I see where Lance gets his good looks from."

Lance made a puking noise behind his mother. "God, please don't flirt with my mother."

" _Callarse_ ," Maria 'tsked'. "You two look so much like your mother!"

"You met our mother?" Pidge asked behind Matt, pushing her glasses up.

"Yes," Maria answered. "After you all... disappeared... we held a ceremony for you. Me, Hunk's Parents, and your mother, Colleen."

No one looked to Shiro, realizing there was no ceremony for Shiro and Matt when they disappeared. The parents only getting an enclosed letter of apology.

 

"Oh, Mamá, this is Shiro," Lance monkeyed from his mother to Shiro, hanging off his shoulder. "He's the reason we disappeared in the first place!"

Shiro's face was red, his large scar across his nose redder than the now Ex- Paladins had seen it. " _Lance_ ," he scolded.

"Technically it's true," Lance bantered.

"Really, it was your fault, Lance," Pidge rolled her eyes. " _You_ made us go in an restricted area because you saw Keith and had to go traipsing after him."

"I was going to try and get him in trouble." Lance grumbled, walking away from Shiro, arms crossed. He sidled up next to Keith, leaning against him as he pouted.

"What's new," Keith rolled his eyes.

"Ma'am," Shiro held his human hand out to her. 

The youngest sibling pushed past his mother's leg and pointed at the other arm. "What happened?"

"I lost it," was all Shiro really said, not looking the kid in the face. He never really told the team what had happened either. They all assumed he lost it in a fight when he was The Champion.

"Did it get blowed up like Lance's back?"

Shiro faltered, looking at Lance. "Something like that," choked. 

"And this is Coran and Princess Allura." Lance declared loudly, skipping over to the two people that had followed the team out of the lions. They looked human enough. Lance paused at Allura, looking to the second youngest sibling. "Didn't I tell you she was the most beautiful princess ever?"

"Even with her funny ears!"

Lance laughed. "That's right," he said, tugging on Allura's ear. Allura turned and gave him the dirtiest stinkface he'd seen on her.

 

"If I may," Coran spoke up. "Lance, are these all your siblings?"

Lance's face lit up in a way the team had never seen up in space. He began going down the line, oldest to youngest, their names, what he loved about them, poking fun at what he didn't so much enjoy. "This is Adriana, she's super great at fútbol, but she will eat all my cereal in one sitting without apologizing," that was followed by a loud smack to the arm.

He was going a mile a minute, everyone mostly ignoring details he was giving, all of them realizing it was simply a distraction for Shiro to calm down. Suddenly Lance stops. Everyone looks to see him looking out at the beach, the water softly lapping at the sandy shore. He looks to Coran and Allura and then a smile slowly makes its way to his face.

"You guys need to go to the ocean," he says. He springs over to the Alteans and grabs their shoulders, one in each hand. "You guys need to go to the ocean," he repeats again. He bolts his way to the water, undressing again, all his sibling running with him, even Hunk taking his shirt and pants off.

And poor Hunk. He has a large scar painting his side, one that looks like he was sliced open front to back. The rest of him is littered with little nicks of scars. Maria looked to Matt and Pidge who looked on confused, both with facial scars, the back of Pidge's hand burned. Allura and Coran seemed to be the least inflicted.

Keith always wondered what Allura wore under her dress. If she wore a bra, or if there was maybe a built-in bra to her dress, but surprisingly, it was neither. She wore corsets, like the women of the 1700s. It was more intricate in detail, and didn't seem to be as harmful or firm as humans' corsets.

Twelve bodies covered only in bras and underwear splashed around the ocean, Lance being his usual loud boisterous self. Matt laughed. He looked to Pidge and Keith and shrugged before he too, bolted towards the water, leaving a trail of clothes behind him. Keith and Pidge looked at each other and only chuckled. They both seem resigned to staying out of the water, though they did head towards the shore to sit in the sand, Maria joining them as well. Shiro excused himself, walking back in the direction of his lion.

"My boy, you shouldn't go so far," Coran shouted. "You know what happened last time you swam out into the deep."

Maria felt a chill go through her. What had happened??

"Don't worry Coran, our oceans aren't like that I promise I wont get sucked in."

Pidge snorted. "I'm surprised he can still go into large bodies of water after that."

"What happened last time?"Maria asked cautiously.

"We were on a planet called Erultoen. The water there cycles itself differently than on Earth. Our water cycles with the use of clouds, but the water there cycles within the ocean. At certain times the water will actually fold into itself and the replenished water will surface while the older water gets sucked down to the floor of the ocean. Well our lovable Lance went out too deep and ended up apart of that cycle. Blue ended up diving into the ocean to retrieve him."

"The lion?" Maria asked. Pidge nodded. "All by itself?"

"While technically the lions are machinery, they've come to enjoy out pronouns for them. Red, Blue and Green respond to 'She', while Yellow and Black respond to 'He'. "

What a concept she had to wrap her head around. Aliens, entire other species of life on habitable Planets. Ones so far away that Earth never knew about them. Technology so advanced that machinery became sentient. None of it seemed real. It was hard not to look for hidden cameras. For someone to shout out 'You've been pranked!' and tell them that all these kids that have returned are actually just doppelganger actors pretending to be the lost kids.

"Okay, stand here," Lance said, positioning Coran and Allura side by side in the water. Lance moved behind them and scooped up a handful of water, throwing it over the Alteans. They flinched as the water made contact, but smiled none the less. "Now imagine that tenfold, from the sky instead of my hands. _That's_ rain."

Matt laughed and joined in, showering the Alteans with Lance.

"They don't know what rain is?" Maria asked, at an absolute loss.

"Apparently they had rocks that would fall from the sky," Pidge answered, deadpanned. "To be honest, I missed the rain too."

"Lance looks like he's right at home," Comes Shiro's voice from behind them. He sits next to Keith in the sand, touching shoulders to keep him grounded. Keith leans into it. "He wasn't happy in space. We did our best to keep him afloat, but sometimes... sometimes it just wasn't enough," Shiro's words weren't commented on. The air heavy in thought. "He needed to come home. He needed to be surrounded by his loved ones."

"Seems as though he was surrounded by loved ones on your journey as well," Maria mentions, looking to Shiro. "He's looked worse, hijo. You've all done well in keeping him okay."

"I don't mean to come off insensitive Ma'am, but I just want to warm you," he keep his eyes focused on Lance. "He's changed. A lot, as I'm sure you've noticed, but he's been through a lot too. He changed, and... the things that's happened to him, that's... that's happened to _all of us_. He may never tell you the whole truth and you have to accept it. Some of it may be hard for him to talk about, and some of it he just knows would break you. Out of all of us, Lance got hurt the most. I just want you to be prepared."

"I understand. I had a brother that came back from a war many years ago, a changed man. I know what PTSD is."

The conversation stopped there, thoughts heavy.

She knew what was ahead. The nightmares he'd wake up from. The times he might hurt himself or others in defense. The way he'll probably shut down at the mention of a word or situation. 

She watched Lance play with his siblings. She'll have to warn them, prepare them for what may come, that they may just have to accept catering to Lance's needs sometimes, no matter how ridiculous the situation may seem. But it was worth it. The oncoming stress would be so very worth it if it meant her little family would function again. It will take some time to figure Lance out, to figure out their dynamic again as a family. It seemed they had gained seven new members of the family as well, looking at the rest of the team that saved their universe. 

They'd be a strange family indeed, but it would be full of love.

**Author's Note:**

> -This went from just being about Maria's thoughts on seeing her son for the first time since he disappeared, to something gross and tooth rotteningly sweet.  
> -I didn't mention anyone's dad because literally no one in Voltron mentions their dad except for Allura and Pidge. I didn't say whether Sam Holt was found or not. It can be up to you, I guess.  
> -I didn't translate any of the Spanish for you. I think it's easy to guess what they're saying. I used google translate but most of it I guessed from my old notes from High-school Spanish classes. If it's wrong, I apologize.  
> -I made up the family names. I know the fandom accepted the name 'Chloe' or "Cleo" as one of Lance's sister's names, due to the popularity of Dirty Laundry, but I haven't read it yet.  
> -Also, I looked up Hawaiian names for Hunk's mother and made up sister. Leilani means 'Heavenly Flowers' and Nakine means 'Hope'. So, yeah.  
> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Feel free to leave comments and kudos!


End file.
